Well, She Would, Wouldn't She..?

The founder of lastminute.com, Martha Lane Fox, has unveiled an ambitious policy to get everyone in Britain online by 2012, backed by a study that says it would save the government up to £1bn annually in customer service costs and boost the economy by more than £20bn.

But how much would it cost? And don't we have far more important things to spend that money on?

Has she never heard the phrase 'You can lead a horse to water...'?

But she warned that the best way to get that missing 10 million people online, of whom 40% are unemployed and 40% are over 65, was not through aggressive government projects, but through local community organisations and even soap opera storylines.

"I've been lobbying both the BBC and ITV to say one of the most dramatic things that I think we could do would be to have a proper storyline about technology in public consciousness. I'd love a storyline [about getting online] in EastEnders or Coronation Street."

Wow! That'd be thrilling, and bring in the ratings, I'm sure...

Manwiddecombe cries 'foul' on this one too.